Panthers rule Sam Reinhart out for Game 3. His replacement, Jesper Boqvist, gets a big goal instead

Sam Reinhart was a spectator. His replacement sparked a blowout.

With Reinhart out of the lineup for the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against Carolina on Saturday night because of a left knee injury, Jesper Boqvist — who took Reinhart’s place — scored to start a five-goal outburst in the third period. The Panthers won 6-2, moving one win away from a third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

“You have to stay ready,” Boqvist said.

He was ready. It was 1-1 in the third when he scored, sparking a five-goal, nine-minute barrage from the Panthers.

Boqvist finished with the goal, two assists and was plus-four.

“Bokey has been so good every time he’s been in the lineup,” Panthers forward Brad Marchand said. “Huge play by him. … It gave us the confidence to be able to continue to build.”

Reinhart was out because of the injury that happened Thursday night when he was skated into by the Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho. The Panthers are listing him as day to day.

It’s a significant blow to the Panthers, who now lead the Eastern Conference finals 3-0. Reinhart scored the winning goal in Game 7 of last season’s Stanley Cup Final for the Panthers, the capper of a 67-goal season including playoffs, and has more goals — by far — than anyone else on the Florida roster since joining the club four years ago.

“It’s a significant player out of our lineup, for sure,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We have gone through other significant ones … you have to be able to survive. You have to have one guy go down and still have a chance — or you don’t have the depth that you think you have.”

Reinhart’s 43 goals this season, including playoffs, leads the team. He has 185 goals, again including playoffs, since joining the team — 36 more than Carter Verhaeghe, 61 more than Aleksander Barkov, 74 more than Sam Bennett and 76 more than Matthew Tkachuk.

Reinhart was carrying the puck into the Florida zone with about 5 minutes left in the first period of Thursday’s game when Aho came at him from the side, making contact with the left knee.

Reinhart tumbled to the ice, clearly had trouble skating to the Florida bench while favoring the knee and was grimacing in obvious pain. He went to the Panthers’ locker room for further evaluation and the determination was quickly made that he could not return.

Boqvist was the pick to take Reinhart’s spot — the latest example of Florida needing to use its depth, which the Panthers have touted many times of late as one of the team’s strengths.

“But that doesn’t win you games unless you play the right way and use it to your advantage,” Marchand said.

Reinhart has 80 power-play goals since joining the Panthers, more than any two other Florida players combined in that span. He has 30 game-winning goals, 29 multi-goal games and 10 shorthanded goals during his Florida career — leading the franchise in all those categories over the last four years.

And without him, Florida scored six goals in Game 3 anyway — with Boqvist being a big reason why.

“All these guys play really important roles for us,” Maurice said. “It’s good for them, for the guys watching the game, to see how important it is that you stay ready.”

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